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Cyclone in Burma Kills Thousands
· Thousands of people are dead in Burma after a devastating cyclone tore through that Southeast Asian country Saturday with winds of up to 120 miles per hour.
The death toll could top 10,000, officials said yesterday.
Blackouts, water shortages and rapidly rising prices were reported in Rangoon, a city of 5 million people. The cost of gasoline has tripled since Saturday.
"Everything is at a standstill," said a man waiting for water outside a mosque. Even in a country known for its decades of hardships, "I haven't seen it this bad in 50 years," he said.
Some people expressed anger that the military government that since 1962 has ruled the country, also known as Myanmar, wasn't doing more. The usually secretive military leaders did approve asking the United Nations for some help. "Several hundred thousand" people need shelter and clean drinking water, a U.N. disaster worker said.
Other officials worried that the damage to Burma's rice crops could seriously impact the food supply in two other poor countries, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
